Leadership Thought: A Dangerous Game a Christian Should Never Play

Dear Friend,

Did you ever play the blame game? I know there have been times in my life when I felt like I was the victim, and what had happened to me was someone else's fault.

Hopefully over the years I have matured a bit and have come to realize no one wins the blame game. 

One of my sport's heroes, John Wooden, legendary U.C.L.A. basketball coach, wrote "Nobody is ever defeated until they start blaming others."

The blame game is not something new. It started way back in the garden. 

"Yes, I ate it," said Adam, "but it was the woman who gave me the fruit, and I ate it."

And when the Lord turned to Eve and asked her how she could eat of the fruit, she had her own excuse: "A serpent tricked me," she replied, "That's why I ate it." Genesis 3: 12-13. 

Printed on a wall was scribbled some graffiti that read, “Humpy Dumpty was pushed."

Yes, our situation is always someone else's fault, so we are always looking to blame someone or to find a way to minimize our failure.

"I couldn't help it," "everybody else is doing it," "it was just a mistake," no one's perfect," "I was pressured into doing it," "I didn't know it was wrong," God was tempting me," "it was someone else's fault,"...............

There are no winners when we participate in the blame game unless or until someone accepts responsibility for his/her actions.

I close with part of an article I filed a way that should serve as a reminder to all of us of how pernicious the blame game can be. 

“Blame never affirms, it assaults.

Blame never restores, it wounds.

Blame never solves, it complicates.

Blame never unites, it separates.

Blame never smiles, it frowns.

Blame never forgives, it rejects.

Blame never forgets, it remembers.

Blame never builds, it destroys.

One of the most innovative psychologists in this half of the 20th century said that he considers only one kind of counselee hopeless: that person is the one who blames other people for his or her problems. If you can own the mess you're in, he says, there is hope for you and help available. As long as you blame others, you will be a victim for the rest of your life."

Yours in faith and friendship,
Tom

P.S. One of my favorite teachers, Jon Courson, gives us something to think about when he writes, “Anytime I blame someone else- be it a spouse, a parent, a boss, an employee, a neighbor-I am ultimately blaming the One who put that person in my life. Jon Courson, Old Testament Application Commentary, p 12